Northern Colonies Song lyrics

Northern Colonies Song!!!

(tune to Winnie the Pooh)

New England was a land of many trees,                                 

And fish and furs and tar.

The soil was too rocky for plants to grow

So industry flourished by far.

Out on a voyage deep at sea                       

The separatist Puritans wait,

To go to a place called the new world

In refuge from tyrannical ways.

They Mayflower Compact 41 men signed,                             

Agreeing to majority rule.

This was a major step to self government

And showed democratic values.

They landed at Plymouth in 1620,                                           

William Bradford was their first governor.

Only 44 lived through the grisly winter.

The first thanksgiving was the next year. (1622!)

Non separatist Puritans formed the                       

Massachusetts Bay colony.  (in 1630!)

John Winthrop was the first governor.

“a city on a hill” it would be. (Boston!)

Fur trading,                                                                         

Ship building.

The government enforced your religion.

But if you didn’t believe

in Christianity

You were kicked out of the colony.                        

(Anne Hutchinson, Roger Williams)

New Hampshire was also formed that year (In 1630)                     

For those fleeing harsh Puritan rules.

It became a big

Fishing colony.

With shipbuilding around too.

Connecticut and Rhode Island were                                                      

Formed in 1636.

For people who wanted more freedom

Of religion and economy.

Though Rhode Island was the cooler one,                                                             

Founded by Roger Williams.

It was a colony

Made up of outcasts

Where all were treated equally.

Middle Colonies Song lyrics

Middle Colonies Song!!!

(tuned to “Virginia company” in Pocahontas)

On to the bread colonies

Where grain and plenty lie.

There’s farmers, fruit and furs and fish

and Indians and rye.                                                                                          

In 16 and 26  (1626)

New Amsterdam was settled

By the Dutch who wanted trade

and profit in the land.

They built many trading posts

Along rivers and bays.

No care about democracy,

They kept aristocratic ways.

And in the very first year,

Bought Manhattan for cheap

Only 24 dollars for

22,000 acres.

(from the Lenape!)

Then England took New Amsterdam

And made it into New York

(In 1665!)                                                            

Maryland was then settled

In 1634

Lord Baltimore wanted

All his Catholic friends the very best  

They passed the Act of Toleration

So this could be so (not for Jews)

In the meantime they

Planted a lot of tobacco.

Next came the great Delaware,

New Jersey after that.

Both were made by Sweden

and taken by the English brats.

Penn’s haven was created

In 1682

It was a Quaker haven but

More outcasts soon ensued.

They had a deep belief that

Liberty was for all (even Indians!)

They kept away from violence

And from military brawl.

And still formed a great colony

That welcomed each and all.

  

Southern Colonies Song lyrics

Southern Colonies Song!!!

(tune to “Blood upon the risers”)

The southern colonies were ones of plantations and of wealth   

For the lucky ones, most squandered in the filth.

The riches of many acres were in not too many hands

And the rest were stinking poor.

Zoom  (x4)

The plantation system stunted their economy.   

Tobacco, rice, and indigo and brutal slavery.

Aristocratic practices and few immigrants around. 

And the south was rising slowly.

Chorus:

Southern Southern, they’re the Southern Colonies

Southern Southern; planter aristocracies

Not like wimpy Northerners or dopey Midlees

These are the southern colonies.

Zoom (x4)

Virginia was the first to come in 16 hundred 7

It started back in Jamestown with John Smith as captain, oh…

They wanted trade and profit for the new Virginia co.

And they starved while digging gold.

Zoom (x4)

Few lived through the starving time, Lord De la war killed Powhatans,

So much for Pocahontas and Smith’s would-be romance.

She married to John Rolfe instead who planted tobacco

And Virginia carried on.

Chorus

Zoom (x4)

The Carolinas started in 1670

They sold foodstuffs to Barbados sugar plantations. (rice!)

In this they made close money ties and tried slavery too.

And they killed Savannah Indians.

Though north and south soon split, they had differences of their own. (1712!)

The north absorbed the poor and those outcasted and alone

They didn’t want the south’s plantation system as their home.

So they built a democracy.

Chorus

Zoom (x4

Georgia was the last colony to come.       (1733!)

It was a buffer state to protect from Spanish Florida.

It was a debtors colony and it was a melting pot

For German-Lutherans and Highland Scots.

Zoom (x4)

Though growth was stunted by the slow plantation system there.

The climate was unhealthy and there were slave restrictions there 

The Spanish kept attacking but Georgia one day would grow.

And that’s the thirteen colonies!

Thirteen thirteen they’re the thirteen colonies

Thirteen thirteen, don’t forget the colonies

Thirteen thirteen, we’re just trying to help you out!

This will be on the AP test!

13 Colonies Song

See the 13 Colonies Song at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYS-KB9gKPg

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